Compaq and Athlon

correction; the <i>only</i> thing they have right is the processor. they make their own crap motherboards, they make their own crap memory, they use integrated graphics, BS MACHINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-----------------
"648kb is all the space anyone would ever need!"

Bill Gates, 1980s

Compaq will never produce a truely good machine, their products are always less than the sum of the parts, due to their crappy BIOS.

Suicide is painless...........

OMG!!! Can you say moron!!! Learn what you are writing about before sharing that ingnoramous information with others. Compaq makes high and low end machines!!!

Well Compaq is collecting $$$$$ whether you like them or not. You are entitled to your opinion but you know what they say, they are like a$$holes everybody has one!!!

Perception is reality!

umm.. well for the first time I'm agreeing with wusy on this one.. COMPAQ IS [-peep-]

<font color=red><b>-RocKo</b></font color=red>

Well, A S S H O L E, i speak from experience when i say COMPAQ is a piece of S H I T!
3 years of using Compaq hardware! 3 generations of crapy Compaq computers! 1 month working directly for Compaq (
BTW, I resigned !), and seeing the bad job they do!And from friends experiences (ex? 1 notebook with a faulty panel,took over 6 months to be fixed!)
How do you backup your idiot opinion?

Better burn in Hell with some company than freeze in Heaven all alone

That was pretty funny! Actually made me laugh! You worked for Compaq and resigned? Can I ask what you did for them?

<font color=red>P.S. Can you be a little more positive in your posts?</font color=red>

<b>Stick'em up? That's pretty funny too! My opinion is from years of working with end users! Computer Companies today use different manufacturers for products such as drives, cables, power supplies, CPUs, fans, video cards, and sound cards. The only Compaq specific item is the BIOS!</b>

<b><font color=blue>Perception is Reality!!!</b></font color=blue>

Which is even worse!
And plus, you don´t see HP, Dell, Toshiba,IBM (Just to name a few!) selling crappy material!


Better burn in Hell with some company than freeze in Heaven all alone

Dell email addresses
Question | No Replies > Return to Search

Author: RoyGlen (royglen@anywhere.com)
Date: Feb 28 2001 5:07PM
Sources: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Does anyone know of email addresses of anybody at Dell? Perhaps we could
send email to everyone we can find with the problems that Dell won't take
care of....
************************************************************
Response from HP Support...Is it just ME???
Question | Read Replies > Return to Search

Author: Bill Barto (barto@home.com)
Date: Mar 5 2001 9:28PM
Sources: comp.sys.hp.hardware



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: e-mail support (KMM1036428C0KM)
Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001 19:54:55 -0700
From: Pavilion_Support
<pavilion_support@am.exch.hp.com>
Reply-To: Pavilion_Support
<pavilion_support@am.exch.hp.com>
To: <barto@home.com>

Hello Bill,

Thank you for contacting HP's Customer Care e-mail
support.

According to your e-mail you would like to know if
the computers BIOS
supports a 40G hardrive.

Here are the memory specifications for the
computer.

Memory

Standard:
96 MB (SDRAM)

Maximum:
384 MB

Speed:
100 MHz/10 ns SDRAM only

Sockets:
3 - 168 pin

Size:
16, 32, 64, or 128 MB DIMMs

Type Supported:
Intel 1.0 compliant


Cache memory

Primary
32 KB

Secondary Level (Max.)
512k bytes Standard

Upgrade Sockets
None

How to install and configure a second hard drive in
the HP Pavilion PC.
Use the following steps to install the second (IDE)
hard drive:

- Open the case to the computer and find a location
for the second hard
drive.

- Follow the instructions on the new hard drive to
set it as the
"slave". This is usually done by setting jumpers
on the hard drive.

- Carefully remove the existing IDE Cable from the
existing hard drive
inside the PC. The other end of this cable is
connected to the Primary
IDE connector on the Motherboard. Carefully remove
the cable from the
Motherboard.

- A Dual IDE cable is now needed. This may be
included with the new
hard drive. Connect the long end (with the single
connector) of the
Dual IDE cable onto the Primary IDE connector on
the Motherboard.

NOTE: Make sure that PIN 1 on the IDE cable is
connected to PIN 1 on the
Motherboard connector. PIN 1 is designated on the
IDE cable by a red
stripe down the length of the IDE cable. PIN 1 on
the motherboard
connector will be designated by a 1 labeled on the
motherboard next to
the connector.

- Connect one of the Dual IDE connectors to the new
hard drive and the
other Dual IDE connector to the existing hard
drive. A Dual IDE cable
is now needed. This may be included with the new
hard drive.

NOTE: The red stripe on the IDE cable should be
facing the same side as
the power connector on the hard drive.

- Connect the power cables into each hard drive.

- Secure the new hard drive into the chassis and
close the computer
case.

- Reconnect all cables.

- Power on the PC. When the blue HP screen
appears, press F1 to enter
into CMOS.

- Verify that both hard drives are seen in CMOS.
If not, you will need
to check all previous steps for proper installation
and configuration.

- Press F10, then press Enter to exit and save the
changes.

- When Windows 95 loads, click on Start, Programs,
MSDOS Prompt.

- At the DOS prompt, type FDISK then press Enter.

- A message will be displayed which states that
there is now improved
support for large hard drives. Type "Y" and press
Enter to select yes
for the large hard drive support.

- At the FDISK options screen type 5 to select
"Change current fixed
hard drive" then press Enter.

- Type 2 to select hard drive number 2.

- Type 1 to Create DOS partition or Logical drive.

- Type 1 to Create Primary DOS partition

- A message will be displayed asking if you want to
use all available
space. Type Y and press Enter to select YES.

- A message will be displayed that the Primary
Partition has been
created. Press ESC to exit to the FDISK menu.

- Press ESC until you are at the DOS prompt.

- Type EXIT to return to Windows 95.

- Choose Start, Shut down, Restart the Computer,
Yes.

- Wait for the computer to restart into Windows 95.

- Double-Click on "My Computer".

- Right-Mouse click on the new Hard Drive icon.

- Choose "Format"

- Under Format Type, select "Full", then choose
Start. A message will
be displayed stating that Windows has formatted the
disk. Choose OK.

- Close the format window.

- It is recommended to run a scandisk on a new hard
drive to ensure that
there is data integrity. Choose the button shown
to start the scandisk
program.

NOTE: A thorough scandisk can take up to an hour or
more to run
depending on the size of the hard drive. If time
is not available,
scandisk can be run at another time.

- When Scandisk starts, Select "Thorough" then
select Start.

- Allow Scandisk to run, then close Scandisk when
it is complete.

- The new hard drive is now ready to store data.

If you need further assistance, please use the
reply feature to include
all previous correspondence because we have several
technicians
answering messages.

For additional technical information,
troubleshooting information and
software updates, please visit our HP Customer Care
web site at:

http://www.hp.com/support/personal_computing

Regards,
HP Customer Solutions Center

--------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Our advice is strictly limited to the
question(s) asked and is
based on the information provided to us. Problems
and solutions
may depend on the nature of your system environment
and various
other parameters that are unknown to HP; therefore,
HP cannot assume
any responsibility or liability. Please be advised
that technical
information changes as new data becomes available,
therefore, HP
recommends that you check back at our Customer Care
web site located
at http://www.hp.com/go/support regularly for
possible updates.
HP shall not be liable for any direct, indirect,
special,
incidental or consequential damages in connection
with the use of this
information.
*************************************************************




Original message follows:
-------------------------

Webform_Submit_Time : Mon Mar 5 23:07:34 UTC 2001
model_number : 8380
month : dec [112]
day : 14 [37]
year : 1998 [16]
serial_number : US82661862
operating_system : Microsoft Windows 98 [20]
accessory_printer : no [0]
accessory_scanner : no [0]
accessory_camera : no [0]
accessory_cd : no [0]
accessory_games : no [0]
accessory_other : no [0]
first_name : Bill
last_name : Barto
Email : barto@home.com
phone_number : 410-574-6163
Country : united states of america [US]
Product_Series : HP Pavilion 8300 Series PCs
[13787]
Webform_URL :
/cgi-bin/index.cgi?Template=NEW_COMPUTERS_FORM
Template : NEW_COMPUTERS_FORM [301]
Language : English [en]

problem_description : Need to know EXACTLY
how large a Hard Drive my factory BIOS supports.

Phone support
does not know for sure.

Also, will the LEP109.EXE BIOS update recognize 40G
?

Any negatives to installing this update?

Phone support said it would render my PC useless.

************************************************************
All manufacturers have problems or shall I say problem customers. If you are a consultant why did you resign? What do you do now? Or what should you being doing now? Let me make a suggestion, go back to school since you didn't get past 6th grade because you got your sister pregnant and had to go work in the cole mines. No wonder you are so bitter!!!! Send me your address and I will donate my old sneakers to you! One last suggestion shut your pie hole unless I address you directly!

<b><font color=blue>Perception is Reality!!!</b></font color=blue>

I have never talked to a person who knew sh*t on support lines. So I am left to the companies webpage. The two worst companies for webpage infromation are Compaq and IBM. IBM has too much information in a disorganized fashion and no good way to search for what you need. Compaq refuses to give out information. HP would be in the same ranking except that at least you can usually determine who the manufacturer of a part is by examining it. Compaq uses some excellent parts in their high-end machines, unfortunately it is poorly executed. It takes me an average of 3-4 times as much time to solve upgrading problems on a Compaq as it would a similar machine from a different company. And most Compaq machines are incapable of automatically configuring memory at boot, you must instead run their program, which comes on a special partition on the hard drive. If you are unfortunate enough to get a Compaq with no memory or hard drive, it can take hours to figure it out, or it may never work. As a refurbisher, I purchase computers missing such parts quiet frequently for a very low price. When doing so, I watch out for Compaqs. Someone in the Memory forum has been asking for help for days because he upgraded his Compaq's memory with a different Cas Latency module and now his machine won't boot, even after putting the old memory back in. He said he can't get into the settup program. Maybe he got a virus in the setup partition-who knows.

Suicide is painless...........

Their speed is comparable with most other systems using the same parts. In other words, Intel motherboards are good performers (not the best, but very good), and Gateway's bios does nothing to slow them down (basically Intel's bios with a Gateway logo!). So all you can do is compair the parts. All the Gateways at my school were slow in the labs, but then suddenly became fast when I got them. This is because in the labs, most of the files were ran from a file server, most used NT4, had no software updates, had mutiple programs running in the background, were formated using a Fat16 file system (even the Win95 units), were never defragmented, etc. I repartion the drives and do a clean full install of the software (no more file server) and suddenly they operate at astounding speed-go figure. Oh, and I neglect to reinstall all the additional crap that came with the system. The biggest thing I've found that slowed them down was McAffee anti-virus; simply removing that makes them much faster.

Suicide is painless...........